So this morning (Thursday), I had a plan. I have several things to take care of, appointments to keep, and so on. I also had limited time to do them in, so I had made a plan for the order in which they would take place. But you know how God laughs at our plans. In the middle of the night Isabel got sick, and couldn’t get her tummy to settle down, and I had to take care of it all because Melissa was at work. So I started off tired, and then halfway through the morning, Isabel woke up and felt like going to school, and then she didn’t. My perfect plan, was thrown out the window, and I have spent the rest of the day scrambling, including writing this article at breakneck speed.
It is when we have perfect plans, things often get messy. It is that way in church life, and in our relationships with one another, isn’t it? Something breaks, whether it is a toilet, a relationship, a job, or a body (like Isabel’s), and our perfect plans are thrown out the window. The key is what we do when the plan crumbles, and things get messy. I have found that plans are sometimes our way of circumventing God, and trying to control situations that should belong to God. So when things get messy, it might not quite be the disaster we think it is.
The Christmas story is a story that is awfully messy. There was a perfect plan in place for how the Messiah would be born. He would be royalty; he would be righteous; and he would be a warrior. Because there would be no doubt he would be the Messiah, he would unite the people. But that is not how the story took place. Jesus was born out of wedlock, in a humble manger, because there was no room at the inn, and in the end, people were not united about who He was, they were divided. But it is in the messiness of Jesus’ birth that God gave birth to the greatest gift the world would ever receive.
All of this makes me wonder, if we are willing to let go of our control, and our tightly grasped plan of how things ought to be, if the messiness of our lives, both individual and as a church, might be just the opportunity for God to give birth to something remarkable, something life-changing. Can we let God give birth in us? Can you let God give birth in you? I hope that worship is a blessing for you today.
Blessings Sonny